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The Wallace and Gromit Collection
The Wallace and Gromit Collection
collects all the famous shorts by Academy Award winning director Nick
Park in one nifty set. While the omission of the full length feature
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit fails to make this a complete
collection, there is still enough here for fans of the fans of the
charming duo to make up for it.
By now most would have a passing familiarity with
Wallace and Gromit. The previously mentioned shorts and feature have
all been critical and commercial successes, and the duo themselves have
found widespread pop culture fame. They have been used as sponsors for a
great many things and are by now a British cultural institution. Wallace
is an inventor that enjoys cups of tea with cheese and crackers. Gromit
is his canine companion, an intelligent dog with a knack for
electronics. Together they enjoy a quiet life at home, apart from the
odd time someone is trying to kill them.
These odd times are the basis for the four shorts.
Wallace usually remains blissfully unaware of this until the end,
whereas Gromit is automatically suspicious of these odd occurrences.
Wallace and Gromit derives a lot of humour from these situations, and
even though the general plot is the same in each short, there is always
a new joke, be it from the characters to some of the sight gags. The
sight gags themselves are something to behold, in fact the entire
collection is something to behold visually. The first short took six
years to make, and although it looks a little dated compared to the
newer ones, is still quite an accomplishment. The characters convey a
great range of emotion from their facial expressions, especially the
silent Gromit who conveys all of his traits through subtle facial tics.
The set pieces are incredibly well done, and as the shorts progress,
each one gets more technically advanced and polished.
The characters are what really makes the shorts work,
as very little traditional jokes are delivered. No most of the humour
comes from the personality of Wallace and Gromit. Their relationship is
exceptionally well defined, and they both have plenty of shining moments
throughout the shorts. Gromit’s exasperated head shakes will be often
matching the viewers at some of Wallace’s lack of awareness but there
will still be a smile on their face because it’s just so damn
entertaining.
The special features are a decent bunch, the most
notable is the making of featurette for “A Matter of Loaf and Death”.
This shows the process in quite intricate detail and shows the scope and
precision the team work with. It also offers up many of the teams
opinion of what makes Wallace and Gromit work as a whole. It is a highly
informative and entertaining diversion once the shorts themselves are
finished. There is another behind the scenes regarding the “cracking
contraptions” and a few more featurettes concerning the duo.
While not quite a definitive collection, The
Complete Collection of Wallace and Gromit offers enough to come as a
recommended purchase. For people familiar with Wallace and Gromit, it is
definitely worth adding to the collection. For those unfamiliar, it
would also be worth adding to the collection, as it is a funny, well
made and utterly charming collection of shorts. |
